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Real Talk: Six Californias' Tim Draper Is Kind of a Clown

Scott Lucas | Photo: Ramin Rahimian | July 15, 2014

Beware of rich people bearing wacky ideas.

There's little to recommend the Six Californias plan that apparently will be appearing on the 2016 ballot (pending a signature review from the Secretary of State.) It would likely require Congressional signoff (a not-in-our-lifetime moonshot if there ever was one); it would cleave the water-producing regions of California from the water-consuming regions; it would consign the far northern fringe of the state to economic oblivion; and—maybe worst—it would rename the entire Bay Area "Silicon Valley," lending credence to widespread fears about an impending tech-industry takeover of our region.

No, we're not like Draper at all. Because Draper is a clown. If we had Draper's millions, we'd like to think we'd spend them on doing things like helping people. You know, like homeless folks. Or sick kids. Or poorly paid teachers. We certainly wouldn't shell out $3 per signature to paid petition workers (some of whom may have been gathering ink fraudulently) in order to push a proposition that nobody asked for and nobody wants.